President Donald Trump said Thursday he will not allow Israel to annex the occupied West Bank, issuing his strongest public warning yet to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as international pressure intensifies over Israel's war in Gaza and its response to Western recognition of a Palestinian state.
"I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. Nope, I will not allow it. It's not going to happen," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "There's been enough. It's time to stop now." The comments followed private assurances Trump had given Arab leaders earlier this week that any annexation plans would be blocked.
Netanyahu's government has been considering annexing parts of the West Bank as a response to moves by the U.K., France, Canada, Australia, and Portugal to recognize a Palestinian state. The proposal has been pushed by far-right members of Netanyahu's coalition, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said in August that a Palestinian state was "being erased from the table."
Arab nations have warned that annexation would destabilize the region and damage Trump's signature foreign-policy achievement, the Abraham Accords. Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, said Trump "understands very well" the grave consequences of such a move.
Earlier this week, Trump convened senior officials from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia, and Pakistan in New York, asking them to support his administration's 21-point plan to end the war in Gaza. Arab leaders made their backing contingent on preventing any annexation of West Bank or Gaza territory.
Netanyahu and close adviser Ron Dermer met Thursday with White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner to discuss the plan. White House officials said they have been urging Netanyahu to accept the proposal, warning that continuing the war would deepen Israel's isolation but that agreeing to a deal could reverse the country's diplomatic losses.
The diplomatic maneuvering comes as Israel faces mounting global condemnation for its Gaza campaign, which has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, and left part of the territory in famine conditions. Israel says its operations are aimed at eliminating Hamas following the group's October 2023 attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel.
Trump, who called for the release of hostages and the return of bodies, said Thursday that he believed a deal could be reached soon. "We want the hostages back, we want the bodies back and we want to have peace in that region. So we had some very good talks," he said.
